Feature Article
Fórsa members to grill election candidates
by Bernard Harbor

Pay, working time, housing, union rights, gender equality, CE supervisors’ rights, and the climate crisis are among the issues that Fórsa has raised with the main political parties contesting general election 2020. And the union has developed materials to help Fórsa members quiz election candidates who knock on the door to plead for their votes.


Pay, working time, housing, union rights, gender equality, CE supervisors’ rights, and the climate crisis are among the issues that Fórsa has raised with the main political parties contesting general election 2020. And the union has developed materials to help Fórsa members quiz election candidates who knock on the door to plead for their votes.

 

Fórsa is not affiliated to any political party, and does not support any party or candidate in the election. But the union is actively working to influence the policy of the next government on the issues that matter most to its members.

 

Last week, Fórsa wrote to all the main political parties to outline the policies it wants to see implemented after the election on 8th February.

 

And the union’s “Public Service Champions’ Charter” sets out a range of questions on public service-wide issues that we’ve put to all the political parties. We intend to publish their responses online in the final week of the election campaign.

 

It also acts as a handy guide to issues that members can raise with canvassers. Parties are influenced by what they hear on the doorstep if enough people show they’re concerned about particular issues.

 

We believe the policies of the next government can be shaped if Fórsa members use this material to send a strong and consistent message to party leaders. So, keep it by the hall door and be ready when the politicians come looking for your vote!

  • Download our Public Service Champions’ Charter HERE
  • Download our community employment supervisors’ questions HERE.
Articles A
New Government should declare emergency over
by Bernard Harbor
 

More than a decade since the economic crash, public service pay and conditions are still being framed by an “emergency mind-set,” despite Ireland’s return to robust growth, exchequer finances and employment rates, according to Fórsa’s general secretary.


More than a decade since the economic crash, public service pay and conditions are still being framed by an “emergency mind-set,” despite Ireland’s return to robust growth, exchequer finances and employment rates, according to Fórsa’s general secretary.

 

Kevin Callinan said the negotiations on a successor to the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA) – the three-year pay deal that also covers staff in non-commercial semi-state agencies – will be near the top of the incoming Government’s in-box after the February election.

 

And he called on politicians to seize the opportunity to move on from an entrenched “culture of crisis and restoration.”

 

Kevin said the failure to move on from the crisis continues to feed instability in public service pay and provision. And he said the teachers’ strike, scheduled for next month, was just one example of unnecessary difficulties caused by the Government’s failure to give priority to addressing weaknesses in the PSSA, which expires in December.

 

“Last spring I called for talks to deal with the PSSA’s shortcomings. I said economic and exchequer improvements had outstripped everyone’s expectations when the deal was signed in 2017, and that we needed to engage in discussions to address issues in particular sectors in advance of post-PSSA talks.

 

“As I predicted, the Government’s failure to prioritise this has further destabilised the agreement. I believe the root of the problem lies in an outdated emergency mind-set. It’s time politicians of all parties showed some flexibility and moved on from the entrenched culture of crisis and restoration in public service pay policy,” he said.

 

In its general election materials, Fórsa has stressed the need for inflation-plus increases to reflect the fact that economic improvements have run ahead of agreed pay provisions over the last three years. It also calls on candidates to pledge to resolve remaining “two-tier” measures – including extra working hours – that were introduced during the economic crisis.

 

Kevin said that a decade after the crisis hit, the legislation that gave effect to the PSSA remained couched in the language of emergency. “Whatever its shape, it will be over 15 years since the emergency if the incoming Government runs its five-year course,” he said.

 

“The spending power of public service wages is being eroded by the increasing cost-of-living, including in housing and child care, while private sector earnings are now rising at three times the rate of public service pay. We have been stressing to senior figures in all the main political parties that this issue must be addressed quickly and decisively once we have a new administration,” he said.

CE Supervisors ballot again for industrial action
by Niall Shanahan
 

CE supervisors are balloting for industrial action on the long-standing dispute about the lack of an occupational pension scheme, despite a 2008 Labour Court recommendation.


CE supervisors are balloting for industrial action on the long-standing dispute about the lack of an occupational pension scheme, despite a 2008 Labour Court recommendation.

 

The issue saw CE supervisors and assistant supervisors take strike action in February 2019.

 

A further planned five days of industrial action were suspended last May following an agreement with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP) to enter into a talks process aimed at resolving a long-running dispute.

 

Fórsa official Ian McDonnell explained: “In June 2019 Fórsa and SIPTU put forward detailed proposals to the Minister for Social Protection, Regina Doherty, based on a gratuity for past service. However, neither the minister nor officials from her department have reverted to the unions since a meeting held last September, despite several attempts.

 

“The Community Sector High Level Forum which was convened to examine these and other issues in the sector, hasn’t met since 2017 and there appear to be no plans to reconvene it.

 

“We can only conclude that, despite the initial positive engagements between ourselves and the social protection minister last year, the Government has zero intention of making progress on this issue, leaving CE supervisors with no option other than to engage again in industrial action,” he said.

 

The ballot for industrial action will conclude on Friday (24th January). The proposed action is expected to take the form of non-cooperation with payroll mechanisms, communications with the DEASP, government agency-related projects.

 

More than 280 supervisors have retired with no occupational pension since the 2008 Labour Court recommendation was published. Fórsa and SIPTU, the unions representing the CE supervisors, estimate that between 30 and 40 are currently retiring each year.

 

 

 

Wages set to grow as market tightens
by Niall Shanahan
 

The latest report on private sector wages from the trade union-backed Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) has identified significant prospects for medium-term wage growth of 3.5% or more a year.


The latest report on private sector wages from the trade union-backed Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) has identified significant prospects for medium-term wage growth of 3.5% or more a year.

 

The study says the Republic of Ireland labour market is tightening - in pay and employment terms - against a backdrop of steady, if declining, growth.

 

NERI says global economic growth has weakened over the last year with slowdowns in the Euro area, the United Kingdom and the USA, with the OECD downgrading its 2020 and 2021 forecasts to just 3%. 

 

NERI finds little firm evidence to suggest that “over-heating” is currently an issue in the Irish economy, particularly in light of relatively average labour market performance along many indicators. Joblessness rates in Germany, the UK and the US are all close to historic lows, whereas France and Italy have stubbornly high levels of unemployment.

 

NERI reports that wages and labour costs have been increasing, but that this varies significantly by sector and occupational type.

 

On the Irish economy, the report says the domestic Irish economy’s long cyclical upswing appears to be slowing down, although labour market conditions continue to improve.

 

The Central Statistics Office estimates that the unemployment rate fell to 4.8% in November 2019, with unemployment down over 17,600 compared to the previous year. Long-term unemployment is down to 1.4%, while annual employment growth was a healthy 2.4% in the third quarter of 2019.

 

Headline real annual GDP grew by 6.6% in the first half of 2019. However, the outsize impact of a small number of large multinationals continues to distort the headline GDP data.

 

The report says the more useful ‘modified domestic demand’ indicator, which strips out intellectual property investment and purchases of aircraft by leasing companies, grew by a more modest 2.3% in the first half of 2019.

 

Download the full report - NERI Report Series, No 1 - Private Sector Wages: Trends, Prospects and IssuesHERE.

 

 

Belfast crew to gain 5%
by Bernard Harbor
 

Aer Lingus cabin crew based in Belfast airport are in line for salary increases worth 5% over two years, after a Fórsa-negotiated pay deal was accepted by a margin of 80%-20% in a recent ballot.


Aer Lingus cabin crew based in Belfast airport are in line for salary increases worth 5% over two years, after a Fórsa-negotiated pay deal was accepted by a margin of 80%-20% in a recent ballot.


The deal will deliver an increase of 2.5% effective from 1st October 2019, and another 2.5% in October of this year. It expires at the end of September 2021.


The new agreement follows a similar arrangement negotiated by the union for the two years up to September 2019. This was also worth 5% over two years. It also increased commission on domestic flights and introduced a performance payment for exceeding ‘key performance indicators.’

Executives make hay on pay
by Mehak Dugal
 

Welcome to 2020, when it took just three days for the chief executives of FTSE 100 firms to earn more than ordinary UK workers will in the whole of the year, according to a new report from the High Pay Centre. 


Welcome to 2020, when it took just three days for the chief executives of FTSE 100 firms to earn more than ordinary UK workers will in the whole of the year, according to a new report from the High Pay Centre. 

     
This issue was also highlighted by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) in its annual report scrutinizing executives’ pay in Ireland. It revealed an unjustifiable gap between the top executives and average workers’ earnings in a study of 26 companies.   

 
It found that while the pay of average full-time workers rose by 2.6% in 2018, CEO remuneration increased by between 9% in Permanent TSB to a massive 99% in Smurfit Kappa.      


Meanwhile, cement company CRH maintained its astounding CEO-to-worker pay ratio of 212-to-1. In other words, it would take an average CRH worker 212 years to earn what their top executive took home in one. 


The report found that basic pay forms just 37% of the executives’ total earnings, with the lion’s share coming from bonuses, benefit-in-kind and share options.


The report points out that, as publicly-listed companies are the only ones obliged to disclose remuneration information, lucrative executive pay packages in private companies remain a mystery.  


ICTU has been pushing for the adoption of an EU shareholders rights directive to improve transparency by introducing mandatory reporting of directors’ pay as a ratio of the average pay of their full-time employees.


Congress social policy officer Laura Bambrick pushed for the speedy implementation of this directive. “The new EU shareholder rights directive, which was due to have become Irish law by June last year, is a good first step in pay transparency and tackling wage inequality,” she said. 


The European Commission says Ireland has the highest market income inequality (pre-distribution income before tax and social welfare) in the EU.


Read The Truth About CEO Pay In Ireland here.

National minimum wage to increase
by Mehak Dugal
 

The statutory minimum wage is set to increase to €10.10 an hour on 1st February on foot of the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation. The belated Government decision brings an end to months of uncertainty for minimum wage earners.


The statutory minimum wage is set to increase to €10.10 an hour on 1st February on foot of the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation. The belated Government decision brings an end to months of uncertainty for minimum wage earners.

 

The official adoption of the increase was deferred at budget time, leaving some 130,000 workers uncertain about whether they would be seeing any increase in their wages.

 

The 30 cent rise – up from the previous rate of €9.80 – will increase the gross wage for a worker on a 39-hour contract by €11.70 a week.

 

Although welcome, the decision does not bridge the expanding gap between the statutory minimum wage and the ‘living wage,’ which measures what’s required to pay for basic necessities.

 

The living wage is currently estimated to be €12.30 for a full-time worker without children. The national minimum wage also currently stands 40 cent lower than the €10.50 per hour promised in the 2016 Programme for Government.

 

Aligning the national minimum wage and the hourly pay required to achieve a socially acceptable standard of living is the only way soaring rents and increased costs of living can be combated by the lowest-paid workers in the economy.

 

Have your say on Fórsa strategy
 

The deadline for members’ submissions to the Fórsa ‘Strategic Organisational Review Team’ (SORT) exercise, is the end of January. Last month, the SORT emailed members to invite them to inform the development of a strategic plan, which will inform the union’s direction over the next five years.


The deadline for members’ submissions to the Fórsa ‘Strategic Organisational Review Team’ (SORT) exercise, is the end of January. Last month, the SORT emailed members to invite them to inform the development of a strategic plan, which will inform the union’s direction over the next five years.

This is a unique opportunity to have your say on what you believe the union’s priorities should be, to put forward your ideas, and to raise any issues which you believe should be considered in the development of our strategic plan.

You can register with the SORT consultation platform at this link and you’ll then be able to make a submission under one or all of our simple themes: priorities, ideas and issues.

While a number of the ‘address’ fields are mandatory under ‘additional information,’ we do not require this data so you may enter your work address or a Fórsa office address.

 

All member submissions are private and confidential, and will only be visible to members of the SORT.

 

Get registered, make your submission, and have your say!

Also in this issue
Fórsa magazine No.9 out now
by Niall Shanahan
 

The ninth edition of Fórsa magazine is now available and circulating in your workplace. In our Winter-Spring 2020 edition Bernard Harbor looks at the political timing, and internal moving parts, of a new public service pay deal to succeed the current PSSA, which expires at the end of the year.

 

We look at the union's support for health professionals regulated by CORU, equality for workers from the Travelling Community, the trend for unpaid work trials, the right to disconnect and the inclusion of social class in Ireland's equality legislation.

 

We also meet a group of activists from our Dublin Hospitals branch, find out more about the education system in Palestine, and there's helpful information on changes to the management of your taxation details at Revenue, in addition to a mix of culture, food, Raymond Connolly's sideways look at music and opinion from writer Aingeala Flannery.

 

Pick up a copy in your workplace or download a PDF copy HERE.

Women get inspired!
 

Fórsa is seeking applications for its annual INSPIRE training programme, which helps equip female activists with the skills and confidence they need to take on leadership positions in the union.

 

The programme, now in its fifth year, was developed in response to the relatively low level of women in senior decision-making positions in a union where the majority of members are female.

 

You can read more about the course HERE.

 

The training takes place in the union’s Dublin office on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th February. Applications must be made through your local Fórsa branch, which you should contact if you’re interested.

 

Completed application forms should be sent to this address no later than Friday 31st January 2020.
 

Funds raised for TENI
by Róisín McKane
 

The annual Fórsa quiz, organised by Fórsa’s youth network, has raised over €7,000 in aid of Trans Equality Network Ireland (TENI).

The quiz, which took place last December was well attended and supported by branches, while raffle prizes were donated by our service providers, all contributing to the significant funds raised.

TENI is a non-profit, member led organisation supporting the trans community in Ireland. Seeking to improve and advance the rights and equality of trans people and their families, TENI is dedicated to ending transphobia, and continues to work for social, political and legal recognition of trans people in Ireland.

Funds raised from the quiz will help TENI in their advocacy, education and support work.

More information on TENI and the work they do can be found HERE.

 

Your 2020 Fórsa planner
by Róisín McKane
 

Most Fórsa branches have now received their 2020 wall planners and desk calendars, for distribution to members.

 

If you haven't yet received desk calendars or wall planners, or if you require additional stock, please contact Róisín McKane with the details (name, branch, address for delivery and quantity) and material will be issued as soon as possible. 

Union subs ceiling raised
by Eoin Ronayne
 

The ceiling for Fórsa subscriptions was raised from €380 to €387.60 with effect from 1st January 2020. This applies to those members paying the general membership rate of 0.8% of gross pay, which has an annual ceiling of €48,450. This ceiling ensures a limit to the amount that members are asked to pay in annual subscription to the union.


In accordance with the union’s rules, Fórsa’s elected National Executive Committee (NEC) decided to make the change to take account of the pay adjustment under the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA) of 2% due to civil and public servants in 2020.


The union’s two other subscription rates are unaffected by the change. These are the legacy rate paid by those who were members of the former PSEU on 31st December 2017 and the 1% rate for new and existing CO related grades in the civil service who have access to the former CPSU benefit scheme which was carried over into Fórsa.
 
Benefits
On top of negotiated pay increases and protection when things go wrong at work, union members can benefit from an improved range of membership entitlements introduced when Fórsa was formed.


These include €5,000 in personal accident cover or €5,000 critical illness cover or death benefit, which also is also available to spouses of Fórsa members.


Alternatively, €5,000 in illness benefit is available to members who are out of work for more than 12 months. And Fórsa also covers evacuation or repatriation expenses up to the value of €250,000 for members who become seriously ill or injured, or who die, while abroad.


That’s on top of a range of financial benefits, negotiated with external providers, which can mean big savings on financial products like car, home and travel insurance, pension benefits, salary protection and life cover.


Fórsa members can also avail of free counselling, legal advice and support helplines, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. And they can opt into our group scheme, which gives them access to huge savings on a wide range of everyday items and services including restaurants, retailers, hairdressers and coffee shops.


Get full details about membership benefits here.

Northern council adopts menopause policy
by Róisín McKane
 

Derry City and Strabane District Council has become the first Northern Ireland employment of its kind to adopt a menopause policy. Developed in conjunction with unions, the policy will provide education and support to employees, and sets out guidelines and supports for staff and managers to help manage menopausal symptoms at work.


Research carried out by TUC indicates that menopause is still a taboo subject, and the majority of women are unwilling to ask for support – or even discuss menopause-related health issues with their managers.


The council said its new policy aims to ensure that everyone understands what menopause is, can confidently have a conversation about the issue, and are clear on the new practices now in place.


Fórsa equality officer Geraldine O’Brien has welcomed the development. 


“Menopause is an equality and occupational health issue, and unions have a role to play in ensuring that correct procedures and supports are in place. I hope that the introduction of this policy will encourage other employments to have an open conversation about how they can better support employees transitioning through menopause,” she said.


For more information on menopause at work click HERE.